- The contiguous United States (officially the conterminous United States) consists of the 48 adjoining U.S. states and the District of Columbia of the United States of America in central North America. The term excludes the only two non-contiguous states, which are Alaska and Hawaii (they are also the last two states to be admitted to the Union), and all other offshore insular areas, such as the U.S. territories of American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The colloquial term “Lower 48” is also used, especially in relation to Alaska.
I deem him one of the greatest beings alive in our time… We shall never see his like again. His name will live in history. It will live in the annals of war… It will live in the legends of Arabia.
Winston Churchill about T.E. Lawrence